All Scientific E-Books

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Nature

Jun 14, 2007

Evolution and the brain
With all deference to the sensibilities of religious people, the idea that man was created in the image of God can surely be put aside.

Moral psychology: The depths of disgust
Is there wisdom to be found in repugnance? Or is disgust “the nastiest of all emotions”, offering nothing but support to prejudice?

Fundamental physics: Feel the force
When two objects separated by a vacuum are barely a whisker apart, a strange attraction comes into play.

Nature’s guide for mentors
Having a good mentor early in your career can mean the difference between success and failure in any field.

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Science

Jun 8, 2007

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Flowers of monkshood, Aconitum napellus, extend laterally from a main stem and open successively toward the apex. This arrangement is one of only three basic flowering structures observed in nature, reflecting the way developmental mechanisms and natural selection interact to constrain biological form.

Expansion of Industrial Logging in Central Africa
Satellite images from 1973 to 2003 document the expansion of logging in tropical African forests and show that logging road construction is accelerating.

Evolution and Development of Inflorescence Architectures
A combination of modeling and experiments explains why certain types of flower clusters are likely to be found in nature while others are absent.

Marine Radiocarbon Evidence for the Mechanism of Deglacial Atmospheric CO₂ Rise
Carbon-14 dates from a sediment core imply that Pacific deep waters stored CO₂ during glacial times and then vented it as deglaciation started, accelerating the temperature rise.

Seismic Evidence for Deep-Water Transportation in the Mantle
Seismic images show how water flows on the surface of a subducting slab into the deep mantle beneath northeastern Japan.

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Nature

Jun 7, 2007

Science in Germany: A beacon of reform
Long a symbol of East German pride, the Charit� medical school is flourishing in the twenty-first-century shake-up of German universities.

Primatology: Peaceful primates, violent acts
Brought up in the Congo basin, Jonas Eriksson has worked through a war and battled poachers to help reveal the secrets of bonobo societies.

Replicating genotype�phenotype associations
What constitutes replication of a genotype�phenotype association, and how best can it be achieved?

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Science

Jun 1, 2007

Cover
An orangutan (Pongo abelii) from Sumatra, Indonesia, in an upright posture. Orangutans, a more distant relative of humans than chimps or gorillas, move in a bipedal fashion on small flexible branches. Human bipedalism may thus reflect selection of a behavior that was present in the common great ape ancestor.

Seawater Chemistry and Early Carbonate Biomineralization
When the earliest animals developed skeletons in the Late Precambrian, seawater chemistry may have determined whether they were made of calcite or its polymorph aragonite.

155,000 Years of West African Monsoon and Ocean Thermal Evolution
During the past 155,000 years, rainfall in West Africa has changed abruptly following northern high-latitude climate changes, and has decreased during the past 5000 years.

Legumes Symbioses: Absence of Nod Genes in Photosynthetic Bradyrhizobia
Two species of nitrogen-fixing bacteria lack the usual liposaccharide signal by which they communicate with their legume hosts and instead may use a purine derivative.

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Popular Science

Jun 2007

Anatomy of a Solar Storm
The most dangerous flares in half a century strike this year. Here’s how they happen and how Earth can be protected.

The First Assassination of the 21st Century
The radioactive hit on former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko means political murders will now be more heinous — and high-tech.

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Scientific American

Jun 2007

A Simpler Origin for Life
Energy-driven networks of small molecules may be more likely first steps for life than the commonly held idea of the sudden emergence of large self-replicating molecules such as RNA.

Lifting the Fog around Anesthesia
Learning why current anesthetics are so potent and sometimes dangerous will lead to a new generation of safer targeted drugs.

When Fields Collide
The history of particle cosmology shows that science can benefit from wrenching changes.

Breaking Network Logjams
Network coding could dramatically enhance the efficiency of communications networks.

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New Scientist

May 26, 2007

Do animals have emotions?
If you doubt that animals have feelings, just look at them and listen to them when they interact with friend or foe.

Earth’s natural wealth: an audit
We are using up the planet’s minerals at an alarming rate – how long before they run out?

Ideas: the lifeblood of cities
If innovation fuels the frenetic pace of life in big cities, not simple economies of scale, what do we do when it stops?

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New Scientist

May 19, 2007

Coloured concepts help read the mind
Seeing music or smelling colours is strange enough, but synaesthesia is about much more than a crossing over of the senses.

The 7 biggest myths about climate change
With global warming such a threat, New Scientist guides you through the discredited arguments and wild theories clouding this complex issue.

On the hunt for cosmic fossils
Relics of the earliest galaxies are drifting through the universe – New Scientist joins the quest to find them.

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Nature

May 17, 2007

Biomedical philanthropy: State of the donation
Wealthy philanthropists and private foundations are supporting biomedical research on a grand scale.

Biomedical philanthropy: The money tree
Donations from philanthropists and private foundations are increasingly finding their way into biomedical research.

Biomedical philanthropy: Love or money
Biomedical scientists want funding; private foundations want cures.

Biomedical philanthropy: The giving machine
Flush with Microsoft’s fortune, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest charitable foundation in the United States. Tadataka Yamada, executive director of its Global Health Program, tells Lucy Odling-Smee how the organization aims to save lives with its wealth.

Archaeology: Blast in the past?
A controversial new idea suggests that a big space rock exploded on or above North America at the end of the last ice age.

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Nature

May 10, 2007

Climate change: Is this what it takes to save the world?
Long marginalized as a dubious idea, altering the climate through ‘geoengineering’ has staged something of a comeback.

The good, the bad and the ugly
Imaging fluorescent molecules in live cells is revolutionizing cell biology. But a pretty image is not necessarily a good one, and many biologists are learning this the hard way.

Chemistry: Teetering on the edge
Why do chemists make compounds that could blow up in their faces?

Completing the map of human genetic variation
A plan to identify and integrate normal structural variation into the human genome sequence.

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Popular Science

May 2007

Future of the Car
Automotive breakthroughs are an almost daily event, if you believe the press coming out of the car industry. The 2006 auto-show circuit showcased eight-speed automatics, high-res night vision, zerolag turbos and a dozen other hyphenated doodads. But real automotive breakthroughs — the ones that transform the industry, and our hopes for it — are rare. We’re here to show you a few of them

The Future of Energy
Later this year, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee hope to take a big step toward solving America’s nuclear-waste woes. Pending clearance from the Department of Energy, they will demonstrate a new toxic-waste recycling process.

Space
The race to the moon is on, again, and China’s winning.

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New Scientist

May 12, 2007

Impossible peaks under Antarctica’s ice
Buried under ice in Antarctica lies a mountain range that defies explanation – they could offer a new way of mountain forming.

Panic over for threatened rainforest species?
Everyone knows that cutting down the primary forest spells the end for the wildlife that lives there – or does it?

Curiosity doesn’t have to kill the quantum cat
A landmark experiment hopes to bring Schr�dinger’s cat back from the brink of death – it could rewrite our understanding of reality.

A quirky look at our quirky species
Humans are strange creatures that must be studied in strange ways, says psychologist Richard Wiseman.

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New Scientist

May 5, 2007

Looking for the echoes of a supernova
The dazzling light of long-gone supernovae is still visible if you know where to look, say researchers.

Cold fusion – hot news again?
Physicists scoff, but enthusiasts say they now have evidence that proves room temperature fusion is real.

Top 10 ways to make better decisions
Our lives are full of decisions, and bad ones can lead to regret. New Scientist helps you make up your mind.

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Scientific American

May 2007

The Mystery of Methane on Mars and Titan
Could the methane in the atmospheres of Mars and Titan be caused by unusual geologic activity�or life?

Chromosomal Chaos and Cancer
Current wisdom on the role of genes in malignancy may not explain some of the features of cancer, but stepping back to look at the bigger picture inside cells reveals a view that just might.

Preventing Blackouts
A smarter power grid that automatically responds to problems could reduce the rising number of debilitating blackouts.

Carbon Nanonets Spark New Electronics
Random networks of tiny carbon tubes could make possible low-cost, flexible devices such as “electronic paper” and printable solar cells.

Eyes Open, Brain Shut
Brain-imaging techniques yield a better understanding of patients in the vegetative state.

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Science

May 11, 2007

Cover
A bat, Glossophaga soricina, in flight within a wind tunnel. The air velocity field induced by the wingbeat is shown by superimposed arrows and to scale. The reconstructions of the wake produced by bat flight have features that are not observed in the wakes of similarly sized birds.

Imaging of Single Organic Molecules in Motion
Sequential transmission electron microscopic images allow visualization of the motion of hydrocarbon chains confined within carbon nanotubes.

Regulation of B Versus T Lymphoid Lineage Fate Decision by the Proto-Oncogene LRF
Developing immune cells become antibody-producing cells through activation of proto-oncogene that inhibits the alternate developmental pathway.

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Science

May 4, 2007

Cover
Artist’s conception of Mercury, with a cutaway showing the molten core revealed by high-precision radar data. This finding will help to understand the internal structure, thermal evolution, and magnetic field generation of terrestrial planets.

Recent Climate Observations Compared to Projections
Sea level and global mean air temperatures have risen more since 1990 than climate models used in the IPCC predicted, and IPCC projections may underestimate future sea levels.

Signals from Chloroplasts Converge to Regulate Nuclear Gene Expression
In a critical regulatory loop for plants, damaged chloroplasts signal their status to the nucleus via a single signaling pathway and its key component.

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The Scientist

May 2007

Watching the Brain Lie
Will fMRI replace the polygraph? Two companies and the US Federal government are betting it will.

A New Dynamic
With an eye toward host-pathogen interactions, can an interdisciplinary center studying infectious diseases predict and prevent the next pandemic? Plus, why measles and influenza bugs act differently.

To Build a Killing Machine
David Kirn couldn’t turn his back on century-old quest to pit viruses against tumors.

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The Scientist

Apr 2007

Biosense or Biononsense?
Investigation of the CDC strategy for monitoring outbreaks of disease.

Growing a New Antidepressant
9 years ago, Rusty Gage shattered a neuroscience dogma when he showed that human brains give birth to new neurons. Today, a company is eager to take those findings to the clinic.

The Vaccine Conundrum
Why is such a highly effective strategy all but ignored by so many companies and investors? What can be done to boost funding?

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Nature

Apr 26, 2007

Research Highlights: King of the Swingers
Sumatran orangutans like to take it easy: new research has shown that the way they move from tree to tree by swaying branches saves them energy.

China Struggles to Square Growth and Emissions
Rapid development is seeing carbon dioxide levels soar.

Immunology: Pimp My Antibody
Antibody therapies have had more than their fair share of crashes. But designers are at work on faster, fancier new models.

US Higher Education: The Arizona Experiment
A shift in population, money and political influence to America’s “sunbelt states” is helping to reshape its research universities. The first of two features looks at the far-reaching ambitions of Arizona State University. The second asks whether a rush to create extra medical schools could spread the region’s resources too thinly.

When Good Drugs Go Bad
How can we best reduce the risk of severe adverse reactions to marketed drugs? An international group of scientists argues that a global research network is needed to identify genetically at-risk populations.

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Nature

Apr 19, 2007

Plus ca Change?
The winner of France’s election will find scientists willing to support the right kind of reforms.

The Poison Next Door
The neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) causes deterioration of muscle control by killing motor neurons. Now, two studies suggest that therapies should focus not on the motor neurons, but on neighbouring non-neuronal cells known as glia.

Moment of Reckoning
Fresh laws on the regulation of medicines are working their way through the US Congress — but will they strike the right balance between public safety and innovation?

French Election: Let Science Speak for Itself
You’ve heard what the presidential candidates think the challenges facing science in France are. Nature also canvassed opinion across the French research spectrum: from young researchers to reformers and industrialists.

Rules of Engagement
Complex engineered and biological systems share protocol-based architectures that make them robust and evolvable, but with hidden fragilities to rare perturbations.

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Scientific American

Apr 2007

The Promise of Plasmonics
A technology that squeezes electromagnetic waves into minuscule structures may yield superfast computer chips, ultrasensitive molecular detectors and perhaps even invisibility cloaks.

Just How Smart Are Ravens?
Recent experiments show that these birds use logic to solve problems and that some of their abilities approach or surpass those of the great apes.

The Ghosts of Galaxies Past
Strangely moving stars may be the remnants of past galaxies devoured by our Milky Way.

Seeking the Connections: Alcoholism and Our Genes
Identifying the genetic influences on vulnerability to alcohol addiction can lead to more targeted treatments and help individuals make better-informed choices.

The Movies in Our Eyes
The retina processes information much more than anyone has ever imagined, sending a dozen different movies to the brain.

Gassing Up with Hydrogen
Researchers are working on ways for fuel-cell vehicles to hold the hydrogen they need for long-distance travel.

A Cure for Rabies?
The survival of a Wisconsin teenager who contracted rabies may point the way to a treatment for this horrifying disease.

Ask the Experts
How can Bayes’ theorem assign a probability to the existence of God?
How do certain hairs know to grow back when you trim them?

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Popular Science

Apr 2007

The Most Advanced Jet Fighter
The Marines’ new ride, the F-35B, or Joint Strike Fighter, is the first stealthy, supersonic jet that can slow nearly to a stop in mid-flight and set down anywhere.

The Money Hacker
Neuroscientist Ted Berger sees the brain as a giant computer — and he thinks he knows how to upgrade it.

Studies Suggest Headlines Are Bad for You
Red wine stops aging? Chocolate beats broccoli? Don’t go on a binge until you find out what’s really behind health claims

The Cable Monster
Know why you can make a call to England or pump cheap gas? Because this remote-control tank digs six-foot-deep trenches in the ocean floor to lay and bury thousands of miles of cable and pipeline.

The Sharpest-Shooting Camera
Say goodbye to blurry shots. Tomorrow’s digital cameras will shoot the same scene from dozens of perspectives at once, creating a three-dimensional image that lets you choose the focus later.

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Science

Mar 2, 2007

Cover
In adult humans, newly born brain cells travel in the rostral migratory streams (orange bands) from the fluid-filled lateral ventricles (pink structures at top) to the olfactory bulbs, along hollow tubelike extensions of the ventricles.

Was There Really an Archean Phosphate Crisis?
High silica concentrations in Archean oceans may have prevented iron oxyhydroxides from depleting the oceans of nutritionally essential phosphate, as had been thought.

Hurricane Intensity and Eyewall Replacement
Aircraft observations of Hurricane Rita show that downward winds outside the eye wall led to its replacement by a new outer eye wall, causing cyclic strengthening of the storm.

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Science

Feb 23, 2007

Cover
Projectile points of the prehistoric Clovis comples of North America are characterized by their lanceolate shape, concave base, distinctive basal flute, and basal edge grinding. The large point in the middle shows the distinctive outrepasse flaking pattern (broad flakes that extend across the width of the point) often found on Clovis points and other bifaces.

Electrical Activity During the 2006 Mount St. Augustine Volcanic Eruptions
Lightning was produced during an eruption of Mount Augustine by direct electric charging of dust in the initial explosion and later from charging in the volcanic plume.

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Science

Feb 16, 2007

Cover
Tectonic fractures within the Candor Chasma region of Valles Marineris, Mars, retain a ridgelike morphology as the surrounding bedrock erodes away. Such findings offer clues about past fluid flow and geochemical conditions with the subsurface. The image is about 1 km across; illumination is from the upper left.

Predation Risk Affects Reproductive Physiology and Demography of Elk
Yellowstone elk have fewer offspring in years in which a predator, the wolf, is more plentiful, demonstrating an indirect cost of antipredator responses.

Pattern Separation in the Dentate Gyrus and CA3 of the Hippocampus
Rats code small changes in their surrounding environment by modifying neural activity in the dentate gyrus and code larger differences by activating neurons in an adjacent area.

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Science

Feb 9, 2007

Cover
A solar farm collects a tiny fraction of the 174,000 terawatts of energy striking Earth in the form of sunlight. In 2005, the rate of global energy consumption was about 16.3 terawatts.

Sustainability and Energy
Perhaps the greatest challenge in realizing a sustainable future is energy consumption. It’s ultimately the basis for a large part of the global economy, and more of it will be required to raise living standards in the developing world. Today, we’re mostly dependent on nonrenewable fossil fuels that have been and will continue to be a major cause of pollution and climate change. Because of these problems, and our dwindling supply of petroleum, finding sustainable alternatives is becoming increasingly urgent.

Enceladus: Cosmic Graffiti Artist Caught in the Act
Hubble Space Telescope observations indicate that particles emitted from Saturn’s moon Enceladus collide with other satellites in the same ring, increasing their albedos.

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Popular Science

Mar 2007

Workers of the World, Unite!
Is that your boss across the table, or a 3-D video-conference image sent from China?

Employee Lounge
Offices that look like living rooms make you happier — and more productive.

Sit Back, Relax
A chair that knows you.

You Snooze, You Lose
Bye-bye, coffee. Hello, CX717.

Office Supplies
Savvy staplers, disappearing wires.

Business as Unusual
Soon you’ll use office tech developed at the most forward-thinking traditional company on Earth: Procter & Gamble.

Help Wanted
Your next job: thought-power engineer?

The Prophet of Garbage
Joseph Longo’s machine eats trash, chemical weapons — whatever. Then it spits out clean energy.

Predicting Eruptions
Smell gas? Look out for lava.

All Sonic, No Boom
New York to L.A. in two hours, quietly.

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Scientific American

Mar 2007

New Predictors of Disease
Predictive autoantibodies appear in the blood years before people show symptoms of various disorders. Tests that detected these molecules could warn of the need to take preventive action.

Black Hole Blowback
A single black hole, smaller than the solar system, can control the destiny of an entire cluster of galaxies.

Mapping the Cancer Genome
The Cancer Genome Atlas will help chart a new course across the complex landscape of human malignancies.

A Digital Life
New systems may allow people to record everything that has touched their lives and to store all these data in a personal digital archive.

Down Go the Dams
Many dams are being torn down these days, allowing rivers and the ecosystems they support to rebound. But ecological risks abound as well. Can they be averted?

Diesels Come Clean
Improved engines and exhaust scrubbers, combined with a new fuel, will make energy-efficient diesels nearly as green as hybrids.

Illusory Color and the Brain
The brain may not separate perception of color from perception of form and depth.

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Popular Science

Feb 2007

Officer Gadget
Five years ago, Sid Heal handed Los Angeles sheriffs their first Taser. Today he’s turning city streets into a testing ground for stink bombs, spy drones, pain beams and other futuristic crime-fighting gear.

Protect Everything
High-tech innovations that you’ll soon use to defend yourself from everyday threats — from stolen credit cards to infectious hamburgers.

Journey from the Center of the Earth
Explorer Bill Stone builds machines that probe the planet’s deepest underwater caverns. Next up: applying the same tech to worlds beyond our own.

It Came from the Lab!
Undead viruses, killer robots, spontaneous limb growth: When scientists are at their most daring, their work can sound like a horror movie.

Fly the Friendly Seas
Half powerboat, half plane, and all agility, this craft dodges waves by hydroplaning above them.

The Must-See Photos of the Month
The shuttle’s moment in the sun; a walrus’s snack.

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Scientific American

Feb 2007

The Universe’s Invisible Hand
Dark energy does more than hurry along the expansion of the universe. It also has a stranglehold on the shape and spacing of galaxies.

Tracking an Ancient Killer
The case was cold — the bones in the mass grave were 70 million years old. But critical clues pointed to the killer’s identity.

Methane, Plants and Climate Change
The surprising discovery that living plants produce a potent greenhouse gas poses new questions for managing global warming.

Making Silicon Lase
Scientists have at last persuaded silicon to emit laser beams. In a few years, computers and other devices will handle light as well as electrons.

Spice Healer
An ingredient in curry shows promise for treating Alzheimer’s, cancer and other diseases.

Digital TV at Last?
Analog TV broadcasting is set to end in two years, but its legacy could make the digital transition anything but smooth.

Molecular Lego
Small molecular building blocks that snap together rigidly enable chemists to design and manufacture nanometer-scale structures in virtually any shape.

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Science

Jan 26, 2007

Cover
Mouse zygotes that are developing parthenogenetically (without fertilization) with single polar body and two pronuclei. These zygotes develop into blastocysts, from which embryonic stem cells can be harvested. Such cell lines can provide a source of immunologically compatible tissues for transplantation. Zygote outer diameter, 70 to 80 micrometers.

Sex-Specific UV and Fluorescence Signals in Jumping Spiders
Ultraviolet light is required for courtship in some jumping spiders: Males recognize females’ UV-elicited fluorescence; females recognize males by UV-reflective patches on their bodies.

Sunlight, Clouds, and Dimethylsulfide
Dimethylsulfide is produced in abundance by marine organisms and is a precursor for a major fraction of cloud-forming aerosols. Thus, it has been suggested that oceanic primary productivity could be part of an important feedback loop involving clouds. Vallina and Simo report that dimethylsulfide concentrations over the remote ocean are strongly correlated with the amount of solar radiation received by the upper mixed layer of the ocean. This response could produce a negative feedback in which dimethylsulfide emissions are inhibited as the increased cloudiness they cause reduces the amount of light received by the pelagic ecosystem.

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Science

Jan 19, 2007

Cover
A motor neuron from the spinal cord of a turtle, stained with hoseradish peroxidase. The elongated soma with an extended dendritic tree (> 1 mm) receives unexpectedly balanced input from large groups of both inhibitory and excitatory interneurons.

Cellular Morphogenesis with a Twist
Cellular morphogenesis is important throughout much of early development in multicellular animals. During Drosophila gastrulation, epithelial cells on the ventral side of the embryo display apical constrictions that cause the invagination of the mesoderm and formation of a ventral furrow.

Brilliant Whiteness in Ultrathin Beetle Scales
Although only 5 micrometers thick, the scales of a beetle appear brilliantly white because they contain a sparse, random network of cuticular filaments that efficiently scatter light.

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Science

Jan 5, 2007

Cover
Artist’s conception of the IceCube array of photodetectors now under contruction at the South Pole. When complete, IceCube will detect neutrinos originating from collisions of cosmic rays with nitrogen and oxygen in the Northern Hemisphere; neutrinos reaching the detector must first pass through the entire planet.

Particle Astrophysics
Catching cosmic clues.
Stalking discovery from the infinitesimal to the infinite.
Quarks and the cosmos.
Particle dark matter in the universe: At the brink of discovery?
Neutrino astrophysics: A new tool for exploring the universe.
Neutrino astrophysics experiments beneath the sea and ice.
Cosmic rays: The highest-energy messengers.
The very-high-energy gamma-ray sky.

News Focus
Indonesia taps village wisdom to fight bird flu.
Puzzling out the pains in the gut.
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

Reports
Atom interferometer measurement of the Newtonian constant of gravity.
Conductance-controlled point functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes.
Counting low-copy number proteins in a single cell.
More…

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Popular Science

Jan 2007

Ph.D. TV
On today’s hottest shows, the stars wear lab coats instead of bathing suits. We look behind the scenes at Numb3rs to see how it gets the science right — and why it sometimes needs to get it wrong.

The Year in Science: 2007
Anti-smoking vaccines, giant atom smashers, record-setting space launches and the rest of the stories that will make this a banner year for science.

Semper Fly
Some forward-thinking military strategists have a new plan for getting Marines to critical mission sites faster: Rocket them above Earth’s atmosphere.

The Truth about Nanopollution
Nanoparticles make your sunscreen work and your golf balls soar. But what do they do to your brain?

1,200 Square Feet under the Sea
Standard island vacation not exotic enough for you? Soon you’ll be able to sleep in a hotel that lies beneath the ocean’s surface.

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Scientific American

Jan 2007

A Robot in Every Home
Microsoft’s founding CEO predicts that robotics is on the verge of a grand awakening and that intelligent mobile devices will soon be everywhere.

What Is a Planet?
The controversial new official definition of “planet,” which banished Pluto, has its flaws but by and large captures essential scientific principles.

Is Ethanol for the Long Haul?
Ethanol could displace gasoline, but it won’t pay off until we find a way to distill cornstalks, not corn.

The Power of Riboswitches
Recently discovered RNA segments that act like on-off switches for genes may be targets for new classes of drugs.

Evolved for Cancer?
Some scientists hope to find new clues to help fight cancer by studying the evolutionary history of the disorder in our species.

The Mississippi’s Curious Origins
Mountains once blocked the interior of North America from the south. Geologic sleuthing reveals how that barrier was breached, allowing the Mississippi to reach the Gulf of Mexico.

Better Ways to Target Pain
Improved understanding of the chemical pathway on which aspirin and Vioxx act may lead to superior analgesics.

On the Cover
The gleaming metallic figure appearing on the cover resembles the android robots of classic science fiction but is really a posable sculpture by the artist Mark Ho of Amsterdam. Artform No. 1 stands 43 cm high from head to toe, weighs six kg and consists of 920 separate parts, each of which Ho crafted from solid bronze or stainless steel with a lathe and a milling machine. Its 85 mobile parts give the figure human mobility; an accompanying magnetic base allows it to stand even in precariously unbalanced poses.

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Scientific American

Dec 2006

The Scientific American 50
Nanotech viruses, global warming, greener cars, stem cells and innovative funding all take a bow in our fifth annual salute to the research, business and policy leaders of technology.

The Red Planet’s Watery Past
For a billion years, liquid water may have covered much of Mars.

Seeking the Neural Code
How does a storm of electrical pulses in the brain translate into information?

Lucy’s Baby
An amazing skeleton from 3.3 million years ago renews debate over the evolution of upright walking.

The Ultimate White Light
“Supercontinuum” laser light could drive optical data transmission to record speeds.

Cancer Clues from Pet Dogs
Studies of canine malignancies could improve medical care for humans and man’s best friend alike.

Weighty Matters
Replacing the century-old standard reference for mass measurement is a heavy challenge.

Set Theory
If you know science, you can do this end-of-the-year puzzle standing on your head. In fact, you may have to.